Top 10 Reasons A Website Fails To Perform

Top 10 Reasons A Website Fails To Perform
By Gary Klingsheim (c) 2008

You've taken the time to finally build a website, and now it is
online. Months go by. Maybe you get a few visitors now and
again. Maybe you land on the search engines. Mostly though, it
just sits there. Is the website you paid for pulling its weight?

A website is a tool and can be of significant help to your
business. It can cut a lot of time you put into giving
information to customers. It can answer questions and perform
tasks for you. Find out where websites fail to perform and how
you can figure out where to make it better.

1. Undefined Website Objectives

Some sites try to do way too much at once, or worse, they have
no definable purpose. Many offer no clear objective. A site can
do more than look good and flashy and have your contact
information.

Websites can be informational, storing content and articles
based on a topic. Sites can run eCommerce solutions that help
you with your sales process. It can also generate leads, asking
customers to fill out forms with their information and
interests. It can also be a hybrid site, with mixed purposes,
like offering a free ebook or free access to information
(informational) in return for contact information (lead
generation).

Defining the purpose of your website gives a clear direction to
your customers. Where should customers arrive when they find
your website? Where do you want them to end up? Using a clear
path and clear objectives, you can lead them through your site,
your products, and your information, depending on how you need
to sell your products. Not all products or services can be sold
directly in an eCommerce situation. Maybe you prefer just
getting to know your customer a bit more, and being able to
forward marketing materials, so a lead generation type of site
might be more suitable.

Assign a secondary objective. Maybe after visitors sign up for
free access, or an ebook, they are encourage to ask more by
contacting your sales reps, or perhaps they can make a direct
purchase online. Use a clearly definable call to action. "Email
for more information." "Click here to sign up." Tell visitors
where to go.

2. Unidentified Target Audience

Demographics have been used in marketing for generations.
Marketers use the information because it works. Knowing who your
audience is defines the purpose to your website and calls
out those who qualify and would be interested in your products.
Marketing is the one area where discrimination is actually a
good thing! You don't want to waste the marketing dollars that
draw people to your site who won't need your products in the
first place.

Get to know who your clients are. Are they male or female? How
old? Where are they located? What do they do for a living?
Habits, income levels, preferences, they can all be discovered
with a quick email, phone call or have your current customers
take surveys and help you figure out what your clients want.

3. Building for the Wrong Audience

Your site can have a purpose and a select audience, but if it
doesn't appeal to audiences, they tend to go elsewhere. Finding
preferences is only the first step. Once you figure out what
your demographic is, it is time to find out what appeals to
them, and use that to your advantage. It could be something as
simple as site colors and images, to where and how they prefer
to use navigation systems and the type of content presented.

Maybe you need simple content, easy to read and understand for
younger audiences. Perhaps you need something a bit more
technical for professionals. You can even see if you need to add
features for those who are visually impaired. Paying attention
to your demographic and their preferences can mean building your
website around their likes and getting more responses.

4. Oblivious to Web Traffic Sources

A link on a Harry Potter fan club forum to your website can
bring in traffic, but does it really bring in the right
customers? If you're not directing traffic from sites relevant
to yours or where a matching market exists, you might end up
with empty hits to your website. It looks pretty on stat pages
but it doesn't really do anything.

Refocus your efforts on search engine optimization and focus on
keywords that do fit, not just what might be popular. You can
plan the sort of traffic you want and focus your outreach
efforts on that. Planning your search engine campaigns can make
them more effective, bringing the right customers to you. You
don't need 1,000 random visitors a day, when 100 qualified
visitors will do.

5. Underestimating the Competition

Who says you can't grab ideas from your competition? Find out
what they are lacking and draw customers to your site by adding
more features and information. Your target audience is searching
the web for your product. Don't let your competition become
more appealing.

Understand your competition by observing their sites. Where are
your competitors linking? Where aren't they? What designs do
they use on their site? Does your target audience like that type
of design or do they want something better? Figure out how to
improve on your own site and make it better than your
competition.

6. Poor Site Communication and Inconsistency

If you're building a website, is one page orange and another
blue? Does one page have your logo and another doesn't? People
love consistency.

Does your content and images display the right message? Your
website might have pretty pictures of your children, or a fun
story about what happened to you last Christmas, but is it
really what your customers want to know?

Skip the personal info, unless it's relevant and your audience
wants to hear about it. You also need to make sure you present
your brand in its best light, and consistently give visitors
the same presentation every time and on every page. Let your
brand stand out.

7. Outdated and Antiquated Site Features

Out with the old. Check your site for old content and
images and delete them. Remove old links that go nowhere too.
Forget pop ups and old methods of keeping visitors around.
Content is great, but if it's so old that it's irrelevant,
you'll lose respectability and your expert status.

Stick to new information. Don't be afraid to get rid of old
articles and delete old images. Do an update on your site
features, like navigation systems and contact forms.

8. Poor Overall Site Performance

You've plastered all there is to know about you on a few pages.
Is this the right way to do it? Maybe not. Yes, you've given
them something to look at, but you have to remember, your time
to impress people on the Internet is limited to just a few
seconds. Long passages of text, lengthy forms, even poorly
constructed or confusing navigation can slow people down, which
leads to people leaving.

Making your website flow is all about making your site easy to
read, easy to browse and easy to find what you're looking for.
Include a search function, highlight popular pages, and make it
simple for people to give you their information. Start with
short forms, only the essentials, and a few simple questions.
You can get more info later.

9. Lack of Commitment

When was the last time you updated additional information to
your website?

Remember those "Website Under Construction" images from the
early years of the Internet? Over time, people have learned
those images are pointless. Your website is ever evolving, ever
needing updating. Your website is never, ever finished.

You must make a commitment to update information and to improve
interest in your site from visitors. It could be as simple as
updating a blog once or twice a week, or updating about sales
and special events. Give visitors something to come back to, and
let them turn into regular guests.

10. Not using an Experienced Web Firm

You do a good job with what you do, and a good business and
website owner knows when to call for help. Maybe you're okay
with writing content, but you need help with creating navigation
and setting up forms. It's okay to ask someone else for help,
either with a few pages, or for the entire site design, and
leave it to a professional.

It also saves money and time getting someone else to do the
complicated things for you. Are you spending weeks on figuring
out a web page design set up when it takes a professional a few
hours to produce? When you're in business, you consult with
professionals who will help you build a better website, develop
methods of search engine marketing strategies, and find out how
to appeal to your target audience. You save time, money, and
plenty of headaches.
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Gary Klingsheim is the Vice President of Moonrise Design.
Moonrise is a San Diego web design (http://www.moonrisedesign.com/)
company specializing in flash web site design
(http://www.moonrisedesign.com/flash/) and custom web application
development (http://www.moonrisedesign.com/html/software_programming.htm).
Visit us online today or call us at 415.887.9240 to discuss how
we can help you make the most of your online presence.
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